Review: Defy The Stars

This is a spoiler-free review. I will not be giving away any major plot details beyond the premise of the book.

Defy The Stars by Claudia Gray is a young adult science fiction novel that follows the story of Noemi: a soldier from the planet Genesis, and Abel: a highly intelligent robot from Earth. Genesis and Earth are at war, but when Noemi and Abel find themselves stranded in space together, they become allies in an unlikely way.

My description is a little vague, but I think that’s the best way to go into this book – not knowing too much about it. Some interesting things happen in this book early on, and I don’t want to give it away or ruin the impact that it has. This is one of the things I liked about this story. Although it can be predictable at times, it also really surprised me and left me wanting more. It’s the first in a series, and I can’t wait for the second book to come out next year.

The characters and the plot were driving this book. Some books are more character, and others are more plot, but this one felt equally strong with both. I liked Abel from the beginning because he was a character unlike any I had read before. Being a robot gave him a unique voice and a much cooler backstory that the usual things. As the story progresses, Abel grows as a character in an unexpected way because he’s a robot and you don’t expect him to change much. And yet he does which makes him increasingly more likeable. I didn’t like Noemi a lot in the beginning. She came across as standoffish and just kind of a b****. But once I was further into the book she grew on me, and I came to understand why she was like that. There are a tonne of other characters in this book that have supporting roles that were all very interesting too – especially the main antagonist who I won’t talk about because it will give too much away.

This is a race against time kind of story, and there’s a lot of action and excitement that is always moving the plot forward. There were all of these obstacles and such that Abel and Noemi came across, but they all helped push the story along rather than feeling out of place which can often happen in science fiction and fantasy books when the author is just looking for something to drag out the story.

I’m going to finish this review here because, as I said before, I feel that it’s best going into this book without knowing too much about the plot or even the characters. The cover you can see above makes this book look kind of like a mushy love story which it really isn’t. I think that’s probably just a marketing choice to get 15-year-old girls to buy the book since they’re the target audience. But if you’re into sci-fi and space adventures then definitely pick this one up.

MY RATING: 8/10

READ IF YOU ENJOYED:Illuminae by Amie Kaufman and Jay KristoffCarve The Mark by Veronica Roth

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